This photo shows a woman handling tableware made from bamboos and food industry waste.
CREDIT: Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University
Scientists have designed a set of “green” tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo that doesn’t sacrifice on convenience or functionality and could serve as a potential alternative to plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers.
Unlike traditional plastic or biodegradable polymers–which can take as long as 450 years or require high temperatures to degrade–this non-toxic, eco-friendly material only takes 60 days to break down and is clean enough to hold your morning coffee or dinner takeout. This plastic alternative is presented November 12 in the journal Matter.
“To be honest, the first time I came to the US in 2007, I was shocked by the available one-time use plastic containers in the supermarket,” says corresponding author Hongli (Julie) Zhu of Northeastern University. “It makes our life easier, but meanwhile, it becomes waste that cannot decompose in the environment.” She later saw many more plastic bowls, plates, and utensils thrown into the trash bin at seminars and parties and thought, “Can we use a more sustainable material?”
To find an alternative for plastic-based food containers, Zhu and her colleagues turned to bamboos and one of the largest food-industry waste products: bagasse, also known as sugarcane pulp. Winding together long and thin bamboo fibers with short and thick bagasse fibers to form a tight network, the team molded containers from the two materials that were mechanically stable and biodegradable. The new green tableware is not only strong enough to hold liquids as plastic does and cleaner than biodegradables made from recycled materials that might not be fully de-inked, but also starts decomposing after being in the soil for 30-45 days and completely loses its shape after 60 days.
“Making food containers is challenging. It needs more than being biodegradable,” said Zhu. “On one side, we need a material that is safe for food; on the other side, the container needs to have good wet mechanical strength and be very clean because the container will be used to take hot coffee, hot lunch.”
The researchers added alkyl ketene dimer (AKD), a widely used eco-friendly chemical in the food industry, to increase oil and water resistance of the molded tableware, ensuring the sturdiness of the product when wet. With the addition of this ingredient, the new tableware outperformed commercial biodegradable food containers, such as other bagasse-based tableware and egg cartons, in mechanical strength, grease resistance, and non-toxicity.
The tableware the researchers developed also comes with another advantage: a significantly smaller carbon footprint. The new product’s manufacturing process emits 97% less CO2 than commercially available plastic containers and 65% less CO2 than paper products and biodegradable plastic. The next step for the team is to make the manufacturing process more energy efficient and bring the cost down even more, to compete with plastic. Although the cost of cups made out of the new material ($2,333/ton) is two times lower than that of biodegradable plastic ($4,750/ton), traditional plastic cups are still slightly cheaper ($2,177/ton).
“It is difficult to forbid people to use one-time use containers because it’s cheap and convenient,” says Zhu. “But I believe one of the good solutions is to use more sustainable materials, to use biodegradable materials to make these one-time use containers.”
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Green tableware
- The 25 Essential Pasta Dishes to Eat in Italy
In his dishes with ragù, you can feel this point of view ... Corradin: In Genoa, poor people added potatoes and green beans to their pasta with pesto to make it a piatto unico, richer in nutrients but ...
- How Copenhagen is a model of green innovation
Copenhagen seamlessly blends modernity with sustainability. This city is dedicated to green living, integrating eco-friendly practices into its daily rhythm. Visitors have the opportunity to delve ...
- Carmelo Anthony dishes on what rapper represents his NBA career the most
NBA legend Carmelo Anthony, most known for his stints with the Knicks and Nuggets, exchanged hip-hop comparisons with Common.
- Bills’ Micah Hyde dishes on uncertain NFL future
Former Bills Safety Micah Hyde is back in town for his annual charity softball tournament set for this weekend. He says there is “no rush” when it comes to a decision on his NFL future, adding it’s ...
- Target Just Dropped a New Collection of Eco-Friendly Dinnerware & It's All $3 or Less
Light Green, and Ivory, this Dinner Plate from Room Essentials in a solid color perfectly pairs with variety of table settings. Designed in a round shape with raised edges, this 10.5-inch plate is ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Green tableware
[google_news title=”” keyword=”green tableware” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Sugarcane and bamboo tableware
- Lenco Showcases Bamboo Turntable With Carbon Fiber Tonearm
If you want a turntable to spin your recording, the Lenco LBT-335BA has plenty of bells and whistles including USB and Bluetooth connectivity.
- Camping season: all the products that will make despair more comfortable
small plates and soups made from biodegradable and environmentally friendly natural sugar cane, elegant and high-quality disposable cutlery 50 units in each case. 40 diamond cups, 50 paper cups , 50 ...
- 35 Best Eco-friendly Products for a More Sustainable Home
As we collectively expand our appreciation for the planet, shopping for eco-friendly products has never been an easier way to make an impact. According to a recent study from GreenPrint, about two ...
- Hong Kong single-use plastic ban stirs debate over affordability of alternatives
A ban on single-use plastic tableware introduced in Hong Kong today will test the resourcefulness of the city’s smaller eateries, which have been struggling to source affordable alternatives to ...
- 7 Eco-Friendly Disposable Plates Made of Clever Materials Like Cornstarch and Sugarcane
A beloved set of dishes — bought new, thrifted, or passed down through generations — is probably a natural part of your meal routine. But there will be the rare (or frequent) occasion when you ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Sugarcane and bamboo tableware
[google_news title=”” keyword=”sugarcane and bamboo tableware” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]